Websites
Why does your company need a website?
The answer is simple – you are able to reach a worldwide market in a fraction of the time and cost it would take with other marketing methods. Setting up a website is not as daunting as it may first appear. To get you on your way here are a few pointers.
Build your own website.
If you want your company to have a website presence on the internet, the options open to you have increased over recent times. Thanks to software which can be purchased and downloaded from the Internet, you can now build your own website without requiring any technical skills. This offers businesses a cost effective way of producing a website, and in some cases the website can be built free of charge.
There are a number of products now available which enable you to build your own website. A simple search on the internet will show you a vast array of choices.
These products allow you to create your own professional quality website in a relatively short period of time, and because you have access to a range of fully customisable templates you don't need any web design or programming skills. Everything you need can be provided – in some cases even the hosting and domain name.
Using a web designer.
If you don't want to build your own website, you will need a professional web-designer. These come in all shapes and sizes from large national companies to individual freelancers. The process you need to go through is exactly the same as if you were buying any other product or service.
Firstly, do your research – make sure that the person or company you are paying to build your website has a good reputation. Visit some sites that they have designed and built to get a feel for their work before you employ them.
Secondly, get a good deal – prices vary from web-designer to web-designer, make sure you are getting good value for money. If you want a basic website then be sure that it is reflected in the price and vice versa.
Thirdly, make sure you will be getting exactly what you want – If you want a certain aspect of your website changed, modified, or removed you need to make sure that the web-designer you choose will comply with your instructions. However, if you would like to be able to make changes to your website yourself, your web-designer will need to build in a Content Management System (CMS).
Lastly, be sure that your web-designer will provide you with support after the website is built, especially if you will be using a CMS.